If you are here, I’m pretty sure I have a sympathetic reader, but I won’t reduce this to a big ol’ bottle of whine!

Work Sucks!

How bad does it suck, Johnny? … etc.

Working Late at Home?

In my case I think the driving force in trying to find an alternative to the J-O-B, the infamous 9-to-5, which lately has been the 7-to-6:30ish, grab some dinner, hurry past the family, TV, to Hell with hobbies, gotta get to the computer to try to knock out some more work before crawling into bed after midnight to get up early the next day to do it all again J-O-B, is exactly the fact that work is becoming all pervasive.

We can’t just leave at the end of the work day and go home and pay attention to the family and non-work stuff when there is a computer with broadband access all ready to serve as a remote extension of the cubicle/office you were so relieved to push yourself away from only some hour or so before. I won’t even discuss cell phones and PDAs that tie us even closer to the work connection … ever been in a restroom with someone having a cell conversation while taking care of that business?  How absurd is that!

Making Work … er, Work?

In doing research for this posting (yes, really research) I found a reference to a book called  Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It, by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson.  Based on the review,  the authors present a model of the work place referred to as  ROWE (Results Only Work Environment).  The premise is that standard workplace constraints should be put aside.  There should be (only) a central focus on achieving results.  As an example, work hours should be very flexible, come in late, leave early if you need to as long as you are achieving the results desired by your employer.

Attractive concept?  I suppose.  I have a job that has fairly lax requirements for structured work hours.  No one gets upset if I come in past 8, because I generally stay late in the afternoon, and many nights work on projects as home.  But, it is a slippery slope and I would propose that in trying to allow the freedom of an unstructured work day, the employee will find himself working more and more during times that were once carved out for family and self like I addressed earlier.

You know, the necessity / requirement to work outside the bounds of the conventional day job of years gone by is more the norm than the exception.  I would just rather see the work required being something that has intrinsic value, where the work is enjoyable and satisfying.  How amazing would it be to work at an occupation in which the boundary between work and what we’d do for “fun” or recreation is blurred..  Making money doing what you love.

What a concept.  What a wonderful, desireable goal.

Making money doing what you love. HHhhmmmmm.

Jeff

BACk to the PIG

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